I wrote a short bit about overdrawing a traditional recurve this evening in the thread on the "40 Y/O Grizzly" on this site and won't repeat that here. Except for safety reasons, there is no physical reason why a traditional recurve cannot be overdrawn. The safety factor is very important however, if the overdraw is being done for the usual reason in order to shoot a shorter arrow than would otherwise be required. Instinctive shooters prefer to shoot the arrow from directly on the shelf which puts the point in an overdraw situation dangerously close and even possibly behind the hand. Any rolling off of the string during release or other mistake can put the arrow tip THROUGH the hand holding the riser. VERY UGLY!

I think for this reason, it is fairly uncommon for a traditional recurve to have an overdraw set up. I suspect the above two bows were used more in competition shooting than hunting. The advantage of shooting a faster but shorter arrow with an overdraw system using a recurve in hunting is pretty negligible and most hunters would simply "step up" a notch to a more powerful bow if they were seeking to get greater force by overdrawing. The advantages of using a shorter arrow at a faster speed are more oriented to greater point of impact accuracy, making me think these bows were designed for use in competition.

Also, if an overdraw shelf is used with a hunting broadhead in either of the two bows pictured, it would require use of a longer arrow than normal since the broadhead cannot be drawn back past the front of the riser. This negates some of the advantages of an overdraw system such as shooting a shorter, lighter arrow.

Cool looking bows however!

2013-2014 Team Double Drop Tine

"And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth" Genesis 9:2

Mark, I really do not know the history of either of the bows in the photos. I was hoping that someone on here might have some insight as to the history and use of these two bows, to include who made them. Like Firecloud I can't imagine these bows being used in a hunting situation, but then again someone may know something that I don't. In the second photo if you look closely you will see a hole on the side plate and a cut out area in front of it. Surely no one would insert an arrow through the hole. I don't know, I just thought they were interesting photos and wanted to share them with the folks on this forum.

RonD wrote: In the second photo if you look closely you will see a hole on the side plate and a cut out area in front of it. Surely no one would insert an arrow through the hole.

I saved the photo, enhanced it a bit, and blew it up a little. After looking at it closely, I am almost positive the second bow is a custom designed tournament competition bow for an instinctive shooter. The heavier weight of the expanded riser is one clue. This would give the bow greater stability, less shock and vibration, and greater aiming accuracy. That sort of riser design is clearly one for competition. Hunters don't want the extra weight and bulk in the woods.

Here is how shooting this bow works. First, many instinctive shooters slightly cant their bows rather than shoot them perfectly vertical. I do that myself. There are a number of reasons why shooters feel this helps them shoot better with some degree of arguement by others as to the validity. This bow, I feel, is designed to be canted slightly by a right hand shooter, holding the bow in the left hand. When it is canted, the offset wood piece behind the thumbhole "locks" against the left wrist helping insure the wrist does not twist inward. By keeping the wrist straight and avoiding bow "twist" the aim is much more likely to be straight, firm, and stable, all critical to a tournament shooter.

The small hole and the cut out section right of the bow riser's centerline is NOT a place to insert an arrow. The arrow goes as normal on the arrow rest shelf. The cut out is to aid the shooter in viewing both the arrow shaft and the target. It functions much like a peep sight on a bow string. Instinctive shooters clue in visually to the intended point of impact by sighting down the arrow shaft. When the riser is in the way, you have to move your head to "look around" the riser to see all parts of the target. This little peep window in the riser would eliminate some of that head movement. And of course, any head movement could affect the tournament shooter's consistency.

The configuration of this bow leads me to believe it was predominately designed to be an awesome competition bow for short to medium distance instinctive target shooting.

I really like that second bow! Boy, would I love to shoot it a few times! If you have access to that bow, can you bring it to the MSDeer day? Even if it cannot be shot, I would love to see it.

The white bow works a bit differently. The second grip, closest to the shooter, is the main grip used to hold and aim this bow. By holding the bow by the rear grip, instead of the front one, the distance the bow can be drawn by any given archer is increased by about 3 inches or 4 inches. (And as we all know, more inches is a good thing! )

The overdraw shelf would allow a shorter shafted target arrow to be drawn back a considerably greater distance than normally possible, thus loading the bow limbs with the maximum force the bow is capable of delivering. When shot, this bow would fire an appropriately matched short arrow at a higher speed and for greater distances than otherwise possible from a normal bow. My guess is the white bow was used for longer distance target shooting and quite possibly with a bowsight of some type rather than instinctive shooting. And the brilliant white color is NOT designed for hunting anywhere except the Arctic!

Just my analysis and NOT guaranteed to be 100% correct. Any other ideas anyone has, please share.

2013-2014 Team Double Drop Tine

"And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth" Genesis 9:2

Firecloud, I don't own the bows and I do not remember where or from whom I obtained the photos. I agree they would certainly make interesting bows to shoot. I would like to attend the MSDEER Day but health issues prevent me from doing so at this time. If you find anything else about these bows please post it for all to read.

I noticed something that I missed earlier. If you look closely at the photo's one bow is a handle forward design whereas the other is a handle rear design. I'm not totally sure if the top one is really an overdraw...rather the opposite. The limbs being further back would seem to reduce the power load but would give the bow extreme stability for target shooting.